Columbia Parc gives the Katrina-ravaged Gentilly neighborhood a new lease on life.

Encompassing 17 new city blocks on the footprint of the former St. Bernard housing project, the varied streetscapes attract residents with a wide range of incomes. “New Orleans’s different neighborhoods have a pride in their own architecture,” says JHP’s John Schrader, AIA, LEED AP. “They were very specific that this is not the French Quarter.”

The homes have a Garden District feel and loosely follow New Urbanist design principles. Mansionlike stacked flats are sprinkled among smaller-scale, two-story townhouses. All the units have covered front porches, stoops, or balconies and face the street, and each block provides private access to secure parking and courtyards. “It’s so appropriate for the town,” said one judge, noting the good proportions and appealing public spaces.